Nintendo e-Reader

"Even rejected by Nintendo. But, fairly decent."

This little (what used to be expensive) thing is damn near dead in 2005. I'm surprised anyone is still talking about it. Before, when it came out, it was definitely iffy -- it wasn't held in high regard and sure seemed like a big gimmick -- but at least people knew it existed! Animal Crossing and Super Mario Bros. 3 were the two games that gathered the most interest for it. However, with the release of the two packs of cards for SMB3, no cards were made after that. At all. And this was probably a year or so after it's debut.

This little thing has the power to emulate some NES classics on your GBA (or DS, if you Google on how to do it). It can also open up new levels in Super Mario Bros 3. Neat all around, huh? Well, Nintendo of America only published about ten NES games (some were great, others, well, meh) and gave very limited support for the whole connectivity thing (Super Mario Bros 3, Animal Crossing).

This was a rather gimmicky idea, you have to admit. Especially since the support was so lacking. If Nintendo kept on with this thing, it would be much less of a gimmick. Instead, Nintendo-heads and maybe a few others purchased a $40 dollar "system" (well, pretty much) that gave them almost nothing in return.

And because you have to scan cards in to emulate a game, the games were always first-first-first-first-first generation NES games. You'd never find a Super Mario Bros. 2 here, nor a Legend of Zelda, unless you wanted to scan like twenty five cards.

Simple games like Excitebike and Balloon Fight were the ones you'd get instead. Which isn't all that bad, really. I love both of those games. And Donkey Kong 3 is also another classic. But the rest? Meh. Ice Climber was good, I guess.

What really bugs me about this thing, though, is that Nintendo didn't give us the rest of the SMB3 cards. Japan got them all, but we got the short end of the stick. It sucks, because so much more could have been added to what is simply a too-easy game, with the save feature and all. And after the pre-planned cards, they could have cleverly put cards in magazines and such for even more levels. But, no.

It's nice to play Balloon Fight on your Gameboy without having to import it (the NES Classic series is up to #30 over there). But, otherwise, a total gimmick, thanks to Nintendo's total lack of support.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 02/24/05